Tobacco-clamp.



PATBNTED MAR. 8, 1904 R. 0. DICK. v TOBACCO CLAMP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2. 1903.

NO MODEL.

UNITED STATES Patented. March 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT C. DICK, OF WHITSETT, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR TO A. BEAMS, OFDURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA,

TO BACCO-C LAM P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 754,285, dated March 8,1904.

Application filerl June 2, 1903. Serial No- 159,777. (No model.)

T0 0 whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT C. DICK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Whitsett, in the county of Guilford and State of NorthCarolina, have invented a new and useful Tobacco-Olamp, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in supporting-clamps, andhas for its principal object to provide a novel form of clamp especiallyadapted for the support of leaf-tobacco in a drying-house during curing.

In the curing of tobacco the leaves are tied together in small bundlesand secured by twine to supporting racks or beams in a dryinghouse, thebundles being slightly spaced from each other to permit free circulationof air. As a rule the bundles are secured to the beams in continuousrows, each row being secured to the beam by a single piece of twine,which is passed alternately on the opposite sides of the beam, and inthe event of the sagging of the line at any one point the whole row islikely to fall.

The operation as at present practiced requires much time, is expensive,and is not wholly reliable unless great care is exercised by theworkman.

In carrying out the present invention it is proposed to dispenseentirely with the strings or twine and to employ small clamps formed ofspring-wire, each clamp being provided with a suspension-loop and havingspringjaws for engaging any desired number of leaves which are to besecured together and suspended in position.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the novelconstruction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter de' scribed,illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed outin the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in theform, proportions, size, and minor details of the structure may be madewithout departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesof the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of atobacco-clamp constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same in open position. Fig. 3 is asimilar view showing the clamp-jaws closed on a quantity of tobacco.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate correspondingparts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The clamp is preferably formed of a section of spring-wire coiled toform a suspending loop 1, which may be hung on a nail or other support,the wire being bent to form two arms 2 3, disposed respectively onopposite sides of the loop. The arm 2 is curved in semicircular form toform a clamping-jaw 4:, while the opposite arm is curved in similarmanner to form a cooperative jaw 5, extending under the jaw 4, while theunder portion of the arm 2 is thence bent in semicircular form above thejaw 4 to form an auxiliary jaw member 7 The two jaw members 5 and 7 aredisposed, respectively, below and abovethe jaw member 4 and serve asguides to maintain the intermediate jaw in proper relative position aswell as to afford clamping-surfaces at points both above and below theintermediate jaw, and thus allow the tobacco to hang in a vertical line.

It will be noted that both of the clampingjaws are approximatelysemicircular in form, so that their outer ends are free to move towardand away from the vertical plane of the suspension-loop, thus permittingthe jaws to more readily accommodate themselves to the tobacco,permitting the necessary expansion if a large quantity is to beintroduced, and as the jaw members form direct continuations of the arms1 and 2 the strain will be thrown more directly on said arms, the jawsbeing held firmly in engagement with the tobacco by the inherentspreading tendency of the arms and the suspension-loop;

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. Atobacco-clamp formed of a piece of wire bent to form a pair ofspring-arms having an inherent spreading tendency, the ends of the armsbeing curved to form a pair of overlapping jaws that exert theirclamping force on the separating movement of the arms, one of said jawsbeing bent to form a pair of clamping members disposed one above and onebelow the clamping member formed by the opposite jaw.

2. A tobacco-clamp formed of a section of spring-Wire centrally bent toform a suspension-loop and thence bent to form a pair of arms having aninherent spreading tendency, the lower end of one of the arms beingcurved to form a semicircular clamping-jaw and the end of the oppositearm being bent outward and thence inward to form a jaw having clampingmembers disposed one above and one below the clamping member formed bythe opposite jaw, both of said jaws being arranged approximately at aright angle to the plane 0f 5 ROBERT C. DICK.

Witnesses:

' ERNEST CLAPP,

A. G. KIRKMAN.

